City beat Arsenal to grab the lead in EPL. The Cityzens win 1-3 away to the Gunners and push their rivals to the top of the Premier League table.
Compared to the 1-1 draw against Brentford, Ben White and the injured Thomas Partey are missing from the gunners’ starting line-up. They are replaced by Takehiro Tomiyasu and Jorginho.
Erling Haaland recovers from his injury against Aston Villa and retains his place in the Cityzens’ starting line-up. Nathan Ake replaces Aymeric Laporte.
The teams start the match very cautiously and City are even timid, losing possession to their opponents. There are simply no chances, except for a dangerous Haaland shot along the goal.
The first real dangerous moment arises in the 22nd minute when Eddie Nketia headers from the edge of the box after a cross from Oleksandr Zinchenko, but misses the ball.
Two minutes later, the visitors answer with a goal of their own. Tomiyasu unluckily crosses the ball to Aaron Ramsdale on the flank which results in Kevin de Bruyne stealing the ball over the home team’s goalkeeper to make it 0-1.
Tomiyasu has an opportunity to make it right as early as the 28th minute. Takehiro takes a shot at the flying ball from the 11-metre mark, but it is very inaccurate.
On 39 minutes, Ake stops the ball on the goal line after Nketia’s shoot from an acute angle, but City goalkeeper Ederson flies into it after Eddie has already taken a shot. As a result, a penalty kick is awarded which is perfectly executed by Bucayo Saka to make it 1-1.
City can well go into the break with the lead, but Ilkay Gündogan’s close-range shot is deflected by Ramsdale and Ruben Dias header with a bounce off the turf and a little touch from Ake into the bar.
Shortly after the start of the second half, Gabriel Magallaes fouls Haaland on the edge of his own penalty area but no penalty is awarded — Erling is caught slightly offside.
In the 66th minute, Arsenal come close to scoring for the first time since the break, but Nketia fails just short of closing on Tomiyasu’s long-range shot.
Still, the visitors look better in the second half and their game advantage translates into a goal in the 72nd minute. Haaland passes the ball to Gundogan in the centre, Gundogan passes it to Grealish on the left and Jack shoots the ball into the area with a ricochet from Tomiyasu — 1:2.
The Gunners look exhausted and on 82 minutes everything becomes clear. De Bruyne, from the front line, makes a pass back to the centre of the penalty area where Haaland receives the ball and hit the goal with the second touch — 1:3. That’s the end of the game.
City celebrate an important and well-deserve victory by catching up with Arsenal’s mistakes in defence. The Gunners are lucky to get a penalty, but are unable to create anything on their own.